


So you finally caught up, Afonika

by soleliscorpion



Category: Starfighter (Comic), Starfighter Eclipse
Genre: No one you probably love is safe!, There's just a lot of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 14:15:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6054634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soleliscorpion/pseuds/soleliscorpion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would have happened if that "Chance" interference run wasn't so chance after all and the woman you knew wasn't the same one who now stood in front of you?</p>
            </blockquote>





	So you finally caught up, Afonika

**Author's Note:**

> Okay this was basically me wanting a different end to Eclipse so I wrote it. And it took a totally different direction than I wanted and that's fine. More emotional moments.

“So you’re Afonika. We have heard so much about you!” Helios was understandably confused. He had never met these people before in his life. They had introduced themselves as Xenon and Argon but that only gave so little as an answer. How did they know him? What was that ship doing running an interference run?

“Bridge, send Fenrir.” That caused panic and arguing. Helios watched as they restrained Argon and Xenon, who surprisingly did not resist. They actually just, smiled. Why were they smiling? That was concerning.

“Xenon, Argon, kill them all except for Afonika. I want to deal with him myself.” Helios stiffened at the voice that sounded. His blood turned to ice as he turned his head. By the door stood a woman who shared many of his facial features. A woman he thought had died. She smiled at him, men flanking her sides.

“V?” She just smiled as the sickening sound of bones being snapped filled the air. Helios turned just as Argon dropped the now lifeless body of Deimos, Xenon having already disposed of Selene. Helios stared in horror at the eyes that were already fading before he slowly looked up at his sister. This couldn’t be the woman who raised him practically, the loving elder sister that took such care of him before she joined the Alliance. She walked into the room after sending the men at her side off with two nods of her head.

“In the flesh little brother. I see you finally caught up.” Helios took a few steps back just as he saw from the corner of his eye Keeler pick up a knife and pointed it at the three on board.

“Get away from my crew.” Valentina looked at the lead Navigator, a bit surprised before her face settled into a smile.

“Boys, deal with everyone, I got the nice man with the knife.” Both men nodded as pandemonium broke out. Helios watched as Keeler swung the knife at V, obviously trying to hit her vitals. She kept dodging, taking her own swings at his legs or arms. She finally must have decided she was bored playing with her prey as she reached out and grabbed Keeler’s arm, spinning him into her chest before knocking his legs out from under him. She gripped the sides of his head and snapped his neck as hard as she could. She ripped the knife out of his hand and without missing a step, threw it. Helios watched in horror as the blade struck Hayden in the throat. She looked at Helios, her eyes softening.

“Look at you Afon, you grew up so much since we last saw each other. You grew into such a fine young man.” She walked over, ripping the bloody blade from the dead man’s neck and wiped the bloody blade on her pant leg. She walked slowly as Xenon and Argon went about taking care of the Bridge crew. She stopped next to a kneeling Abel, watching as he sobbed and kept begging fruitlessly to Selene to wake up. Valentina frowned, lifting the blond up by his uniform. Helios saw something flash over her face, a mix of disgust and hatred.

“I too understand the hurt of lost. Perhaps you would enjoy joining him. A tragic lover’s end!” Before Abel could answer, Valentina stuck the knife into his abdomen, dragging it before removing it and plunging it into his leg. She removed it once more, dropping the body and studied it with a tilt of her head.

“Still he sobs, is it from the pain?” She looked up and gasped as Helios threw a Datapad at her head. Quickly she ducked out of the way, rolling as Helios took the chance to leave. Valentina blinked for a moment before smiling. She had raised him after all, he was her flesh and blood. She had never expected to have such a hunt.

“Looks like I’ll have to chase him down.” She took off into a sprint out into the hallway, the knife in her hand held tightly. All around her were her men working on killing the crew, the body count growing. She had to admit, the fact her brother was running like a little rabbit was what really made this fun.

  
Helios watched as people fell all around him. He couldn’t save them, he couldn’t be the hero. Selene had solved everything when Abel tried to start killing the entire ship but Selene was dead, Abel probably close behind. The entire Bridge was probably exterminated by now. Helios felt his stomach churn as he passed broken bodies. He had to find a place to hide, had to get out alive.

Valentina was always a hunter, even in their childhood she sought out her prey and got what she needed for both of them. She knew what she had to do in order to survive, knew that it could be kill or be killed back in the colonies. How many people had she killed just so they could grow old enough to die in space? He realized he didn’t know too much about the woman he called his sister. Was she always just a cruel person? He turned a corner, nearly running into Ethos. The Navigator was covered in blood.

“Helios! You’re alive.” Helios grabbed the other’s shoulders, glancing around. There had to be a place they could hide. He began to drag Ethos with him.

“We have to keep moving. Where’s everyone else?” Ethos stumbled before starting to keep pace with the Fighter.  
  
“Everyone’s dying. Praxis, someone shot him.” Helios rounded a corner.

“We have guns?” That could prove to be an extreme disadvantage for them. He stumbled to a stop when Cain nearly took their heads off. Helios stared at the other Fighter before just shaking his head.

“This is getting crazy. Come on, we got to keep moving before she shows up.” Cain held up his hand.

“There are multiple fucking ‘Shes’ trying to kill us. You might want to specify which one.” Helios went to speak when he heard her calling his name. All three turned just as Valentina came sprinting down the hallway, heading straight towards Phobos. Swiftly, in a way that could be considered beautiful if it wasn’t so horrifying to watch, she kicked Phobos’ legs from under him. As he fell, she lifted her leg and as swiftly and powerful as she could manage, kicked his head into the wall.

“That she.” Cain stared for a moment, not believing what he just witnessed. Ethos covered his mouth, muttering something in a language Helios could not place in that moment. Valentina stood back up, smiling softly.

“Forgive me, a friend of yours?” Cain gritted his teeth, taking a step forward.

“I’ll take care of this bitch.” Before Helios could stop him, Cain rushed forward towards the other Fighter. Valentina lifted her fists up in front of her, watching the other coming at her. She was looking for the weak spot, trying to find the best place to strike. She didn’t have time to finish her analyzation before having to block a fist flying for her face.

  
It was a dance of power after that, both of them landing hits on the other. In a way, Helios hoped Cain over powered his sister. Perhaps it would stop but the sickening sound of a crack made those thoughts die. He watched Valentina pull her now bloodied palm away, watching as Cain fell to the ground, his nose broken and forced upwards into his skull. Valentina took a shaky breathe, something so small that a blink and Helios would have missed it. She looked over and smiled.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that Afonika. “She stopped as a voice rang out from some unseen communication device.

“All life has been terminated in areas one through nine. What is your current status?” Valentina tilted her head to the side.

“Area ten contains two, one Navigator and one Fighter. The Fighter is the one I currently have a claim upon. Send Argon and Xenon to gather the Navigator. I rather one less on my hands tonight, all things considered.” She glanced at them.

“Understood. ETA, thirty seconds given your current location.” Valentina just nodded to herself before facing the two in front of her. She looked tired, her shoulders hunching over. She looked so different than the woman who had just slaughtered his friends in front of him.

“I’m sorry that this is how it ends.” Helios turns just as Ethos was dragged away screaming. Helios reached out as Valentina grabbed his arm and pulled it back. He turned and nailed her across her face, causing her to stumble. She stared at the ground for a moment, shock etched on her face.

“How much have you grown without me Afonika?” He gritted his teeth.

“Don’t call me that! You have no right after all you have done to call me that name! Fenrir.” Valentina smiled as she looked back up at him.

“So this is how you chose for this to end. So be it, little brother. Remember what I taught you,” She lunged at him, upper cutting him, “No matter what you keep fighting!” He stumbled back as she swung at him again. He grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back.

“What happened to you Valentina?! You were so kind! So loving.” Valentina kicked at his ankle, flipping him over her shoulder. Helios hit the ground hard, Valentina gritting her teeth as she kicked at his head.

“This war happened Afon! That virus!” He rolled, standing back up. His eyes widened as he remembered how the video logs she had sent before matched up what had happened to his ship. She stood before him before unzipping her suit, pulling herself out of it. She stood before him in a pair of underwear and a sports bra. Her skin was marred with vicious scarring, discoloration, and patches where it looked like flesh had been removed.

“You see these scars? These marks upon me? They weren’t from being a Colonist.” She frowned, vivid pain cast upon her face. “These scars are from when I tried to play the hero. That ship I told you about in those videos? That virus still lived. That horrible thing turned an entire crew into monsters. I lost sixty percent of my men! All those men and women are dead because I thought those exposed could be saved. That I could save them!” she shook her head.

“But I was wrong. You can’t save the infected, you can only purge them. And that is what mission Mother gave to the Siddha to do. Purge you and all your carrier friends!” Helios thought back to the Bridge, thought about that look of pure disgust on her face when she saw Abel. His heart stopped.

“We’re not infected anymore! We weren’t infected any longer V!” she shook her head, swinging at his legs. Helios fell ungracefully, Valentina pressing her foot into his chest as hard as she could. She stared down at him as tears began to slowly drip off her face, splattering at his skin.

“Oh Afonika, I know you weren’t infected. If this could have just, played out any other way, I would have taken it!” Helios swallowed thickly.

“Then what’s stopping you?” Maybe he could reason with her. Why would Mother want to kill them? Who was Mother? Their mother had been dead for at least ten years now. Valentina shook her head.

“It’s kill or be killed, Dearest Little Brother. One of us had to die tonight and unfortunately, it had to be you.” Before Helios could say another word, Valentina picked up the knife she had in her suit and slit his throat. She sat next to him, holding his hand sobbing as she waited for the awful moment to be over with before laying on the ground next to him and curling into a ball.

“You had finally caught up, Afon.”


End file.
